Six on Saturday – 3/6/2023

Categories six on saturday64 Comments on Six on Saturday – 3/6/2023

I’m getting pretty close to the end of my stored rainwater so I’m really hoping that we’ll get some rain in the next week or so. Well established plants are almost all fine still but newly planted and pot grown plants are beginning to struggle. I read on one weather forecast site that the south west may get above average rainfall in the second half of June, but getting your hopes up only to have them dashed is not sensible.

Anyway, on with the motley; the motley crew that are the SoS gang; committed, one and all, and when I say committed, we’re talking about a wide spectrum of commitment; to post six things going on in their gardens on a Saturday, and having so posted said items, to bring those items to the world’s attention by posting a comment down below on this here post, containing a link to those heretofore mentioned items. I hope that’s clear. If it isn’t, the plain English version is here.

One.
For the last couple of weeks I’ve sneaked in a garden view on the pretext of putting a plant into context. Nothing I’m including this week is in this view shot, so it must stand on its own. I’m stood on the hedge with the camera hoisted aloft on my tallish monopod and set to the 10 second timer. It’s not an angle anyone will ever see the garden from but a fresh perspective on a garden you’re almost too familiar with isn’t a bad thing. Both cats are in the shot.

Two.
I took a picture of Dryopteris erythrosora in its new growth, but the Polygonatum x hybridum ‘Striatum’ is providing contrast and deserves equal billing. I’m a firm believer that while my brain is telling me I see a plant, what my eye is mostly registering is the difference between what I’m looking at and everything else in my field of view, in colour, texture, luminosity, etc.

Three.
Melaleuca squarrosa, or scented paperbark, is an Australian shrub of questionable hardiness. The question certainly got asked this winter and the shoot tips, which hadn’t had a chance to harden up, were badly singed by frost. I didn’t hold out much hope of any flowers but have been proved well and truly wrong. There’s a bottlebrush (Callistemon pallidus) which has similar coloured flowers but they’re much bigger than those of Melaleuca.

Four.
Many years ago I bought a plant of Dactylorhiza x grandis ‘Blackthorn Hybrid’ from Wildside Garden. I think this is most likely a self sown seedling from it and I would dearly love to know how to get more to grow. It came up in the middle of a clump of Helenium which subsequently died, possibly from eelworm infection, and is now at risk of being overrun by Crocosmia ‘Paul’s Best Yellow’. It may have come with the Helenium and remained unnoticed until it was noticed, but I don’t think so. It was still very small when I first saw it. It’s a very fine plant, the flowers clearly the main event but the leaves also pretty striking.

Five.
The main part of the garden is more or less level and was originally all lawn. The edge nearest the house has a brick retaining wall about 750cm high, behind which the soil is very poor and very dry, making a challenge of finding plants that will be happy there. One that is is this Cistus ‘Sunset’ and while it will outgrow the available space in a few short years and need to be replaced, it is looking very good at the moment.

Six.
Last year we bought Lophospermum ‘Wine Red’ from a local nursery and it was fabulous. So fabulous that we didn’t protect it adequately in the winter and it died. Maddeningly the roots looked fine, but like Dahlias, once the buds are killed, it isn’t able to produce more from lower down; a covering of leaves would probably have been enough to keep it alive. Said nursery doesn’t have it this year because hardly anyone bought it! And none of the other nurseries round here have it either. The main national wholesale propagator for it is less than ten miles away, I could probably get a tray of 100. So I turned to Plant World Seeds who sell seeds of Maurandya, which seems to be a synonym, bought a couple of forms and had to have a look at what else they had which resulted in me getting a packet of Begonia heracleifolia. I sowed it, like I sow everything, in Sylvagrow multi-purpose, which may not have been a good choice for such tiny seeds. I covered the pot with a yoghurt pot lid to prevent drying out and I have germination after only a couple of weeks. There are seven seedlings visible in this 9cm pot. I’ve put them in the glasshouse and should probably check them about ten times a night for slugs.

I also bought seed of Ramonda myconi, which I’ve sown in a very fine, microwave sterilised, peat based compost. Germinating seeds can be tricky, so can keeping them alive afterwards. Keeps me occupied though. Have a good week.

Published by Jim Stephens

Gardener, no-dig allotmenteer, camellia enthusiast. I love colour, it cheers me up. Retired nurseryman.

64 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 3/6/2023”

  1. Pingback: Six on Saturday – My Garden in June – Dreams and Adventures at Cosy Cottage
  2. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Appreciation – Our Forest Garden

  5. Great looking melaleuca and your Cistus Sunset is very pretty too. I used to have her, I think it may have eventually died, but I have Cistus Brilliancy instead and a nice little blush pink one, Cistus skanbergii a wilder form. PS. Thanks for making out posts have little pictures with them!

    Here are my six – https://rosegardenconversation.wordpress.com/2023/06/03/six-on-saturday-winter-wonders-3%f0%9f%8c%b8-6%f0%9f%8c%b8-23/

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  6. Pingback: Six on Saturday: For the Love of Iris – Barefoot Lily Lady
  8. Pingback: six on saturday: 06.03.23 | linnie and the jets …

    1. If you go back to my 22nd April post, https://wp.me/p6bCCa-3Oo the second picture is a view from the house. In the top right is a soil bank, held up with a railway sleeper wall and with a fence on top. I took this weeks picture standing on the sleepers. In the foreground of the same picture is the shadow of my camera on the monopod. I would be happy to get five years out of the Cistus, any more is a bonus.

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  10. Pingback: Six or Seven on Saturday: Striding Ahead | Rambling in the Garden

    1. On the blog homepage is a tab for ‘My Garden’, under which you will find a picture of what it was like at the beginning. Grass is a mystery to me, all I see is wasted opportunity.

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      3. Have to agree on the grass, sadly husband insisted on having some so we have a small grass path seperating the borders – just so he can get the mower out!!

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      4. There was a short spell when we’d cut big beds in the lawn and all that was left was a long grass path, with miles of edges. It didn’t stay long.

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  12. I love the Dactylorhiza – those gardening mysteries can drive you crazy. I am the lucky one for rain it seems. Sending precipitating thoughts your way. It is always interesting to see common species like Callistemon in your garden, the trees are very common here. Thank you for hosting. http://wp.me/p3VbFx-4oo

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    1. It’s interesting that some Australian plants like Callistemon and Melaleuca seem to be common in the USA. Here they are not really common as there are only a few that are reliably hardy in most parts, plus a few more down where I am.

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      1. Those two plants are actually considered invasive here. They grow in South Florida and California. I think it is illegal to plant Melaluca anymore. Your Callistemon is very different from the common one here, C. citrinus is a tree with red flowers.

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      2. The invasive Melaleuca species you have in Florida is M. quinquenervia, which grows in and near swamps in Australia and makes a fair sized tree. It isn’t cold hardy in the UK. M. squarrosa, the one I have, is a shrub from Tasmania, so is hardy enough to survive here, but only just; it would never become invasive. There’s a Callistemon growing in one of our neighbour’s gardens and I have seen one seedling in ours, but I’m not aware of it becoming naturalised anywhere here.

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  14. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Pride Edition | Cosmos and Cleome

  15. As I said to Sel it is really nice to see a garden view so we can visualise where each plant fits into the scheme of things. I like your circular design with the meandering pathway. I have meandering paths too but on a much smaller scale. Having removed the FMNs this week I can once again use one of them! Rain overnight would be welcome, but doesn’t look likely. And I saw a shrub in the George V garden yesterday that I thought was a yellow bottlebrush, but maybe it’s a Melaleuca. Whatever, it is very pretty.

    Six on Saturday | Summertime

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    1. What I still find a little hard to get my head around is that most of both Melaleuca and Callistemon that I have seen growing in the wild in Australia was in saturated ground or actually in water.

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  16. Pingback: Six on Saturday – Going All Out – My Slice of Mexico

  18. We are praying for rain here as well. I have been using house water all week s the temps are in the 90s F. The grounds is dry and cracked, the lawn is brown, but will come back. Farmers around here are hurting as they got their seeds in but now are short rain.

    Your cats look content in the garden! I dream of tearing out the back lawn in favor of lovely plants, but he man loves his lawn, why, I have no idea

    Oh well, here are my six:
    https://wordpress.com/post/wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/6138

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  19. Pingback: June 3, Six on Saturday – Gardening in the Prairie

  20. I always enjoy seeing what you have in bloom. As I have been absent for a while from the blogging world I didn’t realise you have taken over SOS. well done, it’s such a popular meme. I am joining in this week; the first time from my new garden. six-on-saturday-june-beauties

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  22. Pingback: Six On Saturday: Out goes cold May | n20gardener

  24. What an interesting SoS you have this week! Especially loved your Cistus photo for the beautiful color, echoed so beautifully by the Digitalis. Is that foliage for Crinum lilies off to the side? Dry spots with poor soil are a challenge for many of us, and that photo is pure inspiration for what is possible. I hope your rain comes sooner rather than later, and before you lose any plants to the heat and dry soil. Your Dryopteris photo is stunning, too. You described it well, “while my brain is telling me I see a plant, what my eye is mostly registering is the difference between what I’m looking at and everything else in my field of view, in colour, texture, luminosity, etc.” What an astute insight, that I want to remember. My six this week look a bit rangy because I’m showing several plants just coming into growth after winter storage. Maybe not very ‘pretty’ yet, but I’m grateful for their survival!

    Six on Saturday: Sharing the Love

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  25. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Sharing the Love – Our Forest Garden

    1. Hi Angela,

      Your post does not work for me. Interestingly, it takes me to what appears to be a new post waiting to be written. Crazy technology. View your post, copy the address and paste it in…should work…You have us all curious now!
      -Elizabeth

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    2. I think you copied and pasted the link while you were still in the editor rather than after you published it. There’s also a short link under the jetpack icon in my version of the editor. And a very warm welcome to you. I do worry that those of us who have plant knowledge can be intimidating, but it was what I did for a career so I’ve been dealing with plants since forever. The wider the range of gardeners and gardens that get involved with this, the better I like it. Someone in a different part of the world can only have a handful of plants in their garden and think they’re all too common to be interesting and I’ve never heard of any of them.

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      1. Obviously I can only speak for myself but I don’t find it intimidating, more a source of inspiration and ideas.

        Liked by 1 person

  28. Pingback: Six on Saturday: First Post – This & That
  30. Pingback: Six on Saturday: 3 June 2023 – My Tiny Welsh Garden

  31. Good luck with the seed sowing. Mine have been dire this year. Only the reliable hardies like marigolds have played ball. The Dactylorhiza is beautiful. I once had one hitch a ride with a kniphofia from Great Dixter (who I’m sure have plenty spare) and it hang around in the Long Border for a few years until the lack of water probably saw it off.
    I enjoyed the aerial view of your garden. The circular layout is shown off a treat. I once saw a professional garden photographer at Sissinghurst photographing the Lime Walk. He had a very tall stepladder.
    Enough waffle – here’s my Six for this Week
    https://www.hortusbaileyana.co.uk/2023/06/rhs-hyde-hall-and-first-roses.html

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  36. Melaleuca species are nice small trees that happen to be very well suited to the climate here. It is hard to imagine them not being hardy. Most tolerate drought and heat. I do not consider frost and dampness, which are uncommon concerns within chaparral climates. My six for this week happen to be from the Hollywood Hills, which is quite chaparral.

    Six on Saturday: Hollywood II

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  37. Pingback: Six on Saturday | Summertime – Cornwall in Colours

  40. Lots to ogle over today, the orchid is gorgeous I hope it decides to spread itself around. At one garden I worked in, in Ilfracombe, a wild orchid seeded itself into the folded fronds of a fern. I contemplated trying to ease it out, but left it in place in the end. Your cistus looks perfect where it is, hopefully it will grow very slowly. And I congratulate you on your seed success, such a wonderful feeling when you spot those little specks of green. Here are mine https://offtheedgegardening.com/2023/06/03/six-on-saturday-shirley-temple-and-friends/

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